But those who believe freedom will arrive on the back of western bombs seem incapable of learning from the catastrophes that have defined this century. Donald Trump continues to threaten to bomb Iran, egged on by Reza Pahlavi, son of the late deposed shah. The one advantage of Trump is that – unlike his predecessors – he generally does not pretend to champion noble ideas. He incited an attempted coup against his own democracy, and after recently attacking Venezuela, made clear that oil was his primary concern. He has paid lip service to the protests in Iran. But as far back as 1980, he publicly declared his support for intervening in the country, claiming that “right now we’d be an oil-rich nation” if the US had done so. Similarly, overseeing the killing of Qassem Suleimani, and attacking the Fordow nuclear facility at a time of extreme regional tension, were hardly done with the best interests of average Iranians in mind.